Puppets may be lifeless objects, but in the right hands, they command extraordinary emotional power. So veteran puppeteer and playwright Vit Horejš has demonstrated time and again with his Czechoslovak-American Marionette Theater, which returns this week with “King Executioner.” It’s a mysterious fable about a friendship between a Jewish musician and a young member of the Polish resistance at the outbreak of the Second World War.

One of the most colorful and controversial performers of his generation, Oscar Levant was an immensely gifted composer, pianist and raconteur whose life and career were hobbled by a ferocious addiction to prescription drugs.

With its multiplicity of rituals and its insistence on punctilious observance, Judaism is often jokingly referred to as a religion for obsessive-compulsives. Now comes Adam Strauss’ one-man show, “Varieties of Religious Experience,” which details the Jewish stand-up comedian’s struggles with real OCD, his last-ditch effort to cure it with psychedelic mushrooms, and his ultimate discovery of spiritual enlightenment.

Luck is always in high demand for characters in musicals. From “Luck Be a Lady Tonight” in “Guys and Dolls” to “With a Little Bit of Luck” in “My Fair Lady,” good fortune can make all the difference in a character’s romantic and financial prospects.